


Fire and Ice

by GreenCat42



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Elemental AU, M/M, grumpy boys cuddling together, hunk has sunshine/sunlight, keith has heat/fire power, klance cuddling time, lance has water/ice powers, pidge has earth/plant powers, shiro has shadow/darkness, so keith doesn't melt and lance doesn't freeze they have to maintain contact, so their powers stabilize
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:50:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9266417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenCat42/pseuds/GreenCat42
Summary: A freak alien accident gives the paladins elemental powers. The only problem is none of them can control them very well, especially Keith and Lance. Lance is eternally freezing and Keith is a volcano. The only way to combat this issue is, well cuddling. (Neither of them like it very much).





	1. Chapter 1

So, I was browsing the klance tag yesterday and [this post](http://help-i-need-a-cool-username.tumblr.com/post/155598527388/so-if-the-team-got-elemental-powers-its-slowly) by help-i-need-a-cool-username caught my attention and well I wrote a fic about it. Enjoy. (I'm working on chapter 2 right now). 

* * *

 

            It was an accident everyone got elemental powers, but the two that were having the most problems were Keith and Lance. Pidge didn’t seem to mind the plant and earth powers, even if it meant when they got distracted plants grew at an alarming rate; but they were working on it. Hunk kept flinging sunshine everywhere, unable to completely get hang of quite yet.

            Shiro’s ability hadn’t quite manifested yet, mainly due to his Galra arm. “Holy Quiznak turn up the heat will you Coran?” Lance said. “It’s freezing in here.”

            He was currently wearing the most layers he could feasibly put on, but was still shaking. “No can do, won’t help you.”

            Keith on the other hand was draped over one of the chairs wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts, his pale skin shiny with sweat.  Pins borrowed from Allura pulled his black hair back, and he had a tiny ponytail peeking out behind him. “No, it’s way too hot in here,” Keith complained.

            Coran rolled his eyes, they were so dense. Allura strode out, Pidge following her and holding a potted plant that was currently draped over their arms. “You guys are meant to keep each other in check, heat vs. cold. Why isn’t this obvious?” Allura said with a deep sigh. “You two have to cuddle!”

            Both paladins stared at each other in utter horror. “Cuddle!” they said at the same time. “No way!”

            “Pidge doesn’t have to cuddle with Hunk,” Lance protested.

            “His sunshine is actually quite helpful for the plants,” Pidge retorted. “Plus, the plants are nice.”

            “How could I **ever** want to cuddle with that-that string bean!” Keith protested.

            “Keith, you do realize steam is literally coming from your mouth,” Lance said.

            “At least I’m not an icicle!”

            Cold air curled around Lance while he shot daggers at Keith. “Nope, no way!”

            Three nights went by, and both the red and blue paladin grew increasingly grumpy. Lance got in trouble for stealing all the blankets in the castle to make himself a nest so he could stay warm. Keith on the other hand was yelled at multiple times to put on clothes. “No one wants to see you in that little amount of clothing!” Pidge yelled covering their eyes. “No one.”

            “I’m melting, it’s too hot!”

            On the fourth night, Lance was fed up with being freezing all the time. Stomping out of his room, trailing four blankets, he headed to Keith’s quarters. Bang bang! “Wake up mullet head I’m so done with freezing to death, open up! I’m ready to cuddle!”

            The door swished open and a very grumpy and sleep deprived paladin stood in front of Lance. Sweat dripped down his face, and his hair was wet. “I’ve taken four showers today alone, cold showers,” Keith panted. “I’m still a million degrees.”

            “Move over.”

            Lance shoved past Keith and went to curl up in his bed. “Well?”

            The look Keith gave Lance could’ve melted an iceberg. “Pushy, aren’t we?” Keith retorted. “You came to my quarters to cuddle.”

            “Yes, so I’m not going to freeze to death mullet head, get in bed!”

            “Stop ordering me around!”

            “If you actually listened to me and didn’t argue you would be fine.”

            Keith grumbled under his breath, but got under the blankets. “Why do you need so many?”

            “Because I’m like sub-arctic, I could make ice-cream if I wanted to.”

            Lance’s skin was cold, it felt so good against his own heated skin. “You’re only wearing boxers, shouldn’t you put some more clothes on?”

            “If you have any more layers on you could be a marshmallow.”

            Keith yawned almost unable to keep up the banter. “So,” Lance retorted also yawning.

            The two paladin’s eyes shuttered close and soon the two of them were sound asleep.

            _‘Warm, I’m warm,’_ Lance thought regaining consciousness.

            When he opened his eyes, he swallowed hard. Keith was very, very close, his arm draped around Lance’s waist. Hot breath fanned across and exposed shoulder where his shirt had been pulled down. Funnily enough the blankets had been mostly pushed aside, and their legs were tangled together. _‘Oh quiznak,’_ Lance thought.

            He did feel a lot better, not freezing, it worked. Keith stirred, his eyes fluttering open. “Mmm I’m not a million degrees, I feel normal for once,” he said his voice still gravely with sleep.

            Blinking Keith saw how close he was to Lance, then he scrambled backwards, falling off the bed. “What-what?”

            “I feel great,” Lance said.

            “Great, then get out.”

            Back to grumpy Keith it was. Lance huffed and left his quarters. It was a shame the doors slid open, so he couldn’t get the gratification of slamming the door.

            “Lance yo!” Hunk said. “Wait-was that Keith’s quarters?”

            “Yes, I decided to try the whole cuddling thing, but I would be better off cuddling a cactus, it would be less prickly than mullet head.”

            “You’re not wrapped up in blankets though?”

            “It worked.”

            Hunk beamed and Lance had to shield his eyes from the bright sunshine that emitted from his smile. “Holy cheese Hunk my man I’m gonna have to wear sunglasses around you now.”

            “Sorry.”

            “C’mon, I’m starving.”

            Lance hoped that he wouldn’t have to cuddle every night with Keith. To be honest it was embarrassing, but a tiny, very small part of him hoped they would have to again. This tiny part of himself he firmly shoved deep down. _‘Who would want to cuddle that mullet head,’_ Lance thought.

            Although he couldn’t control his powers very well, Hunk was very happy that Lance could help him make some Altean ingredient based ice-cream.  “This isn’t so bad,” Lance said.

            Hunk beamed again, literally. Lance shielded his eyes until the light subsided and blinked. “I need sunglasses stat!”

            “Sorry!”

            Keith was so very wrong in his hopes that he wouldn’t have to cuddle with Lance that night. It was near midnight and he was sweating buckets. _‘I shouldn’t be this hot!’_ Keith thought.

            He had his quarters set to the lowest temperature it would go and he still felt like he was sitting in a volcano. Grumbling under his breath he left his quarters and stomped down the hallway. Apparently only one person could make him feel normal, and that was Lance.

            Right before he knocked, the door swished open and a very bundled Lance almost ran into him. “Keith?”

            “Move over, we’re cuddling,” Keith growled.

            He stalked into Lance’s quarters dragging Lance behind him. “Make this stupid overheating nonsense go away!”

            Lance sighed when Keith wrapped his arm around him. “That’s better,” Lance muttered. “Warm.”

            To Keith’s utter horror, Lance snuggled under his chin, his cool breath tickling his skin. “It’s just like the beach.”

            His voice trailed off and Keith sighed, letting his eyes close. He wasn’t meltingly hot and that was enough for him.

            During the next week, it became common place for them to spend the night in each other’s rooms. Some nights it was Keith’s, some nights it was Lance’s. Then it branched into constant touching, which slightly weirded out the other paladins.

            “Looks like you have your elemental powers under control, oh hi Keith…” Hunk said, his voice trailing off.

            “What?”

            Keith had crawled into Lance’s lap, their hands brushing. He sighed, feeling his temperature lower. “Jeeze what the- Keith!” Lance protested, but he didn’t move.

            “I was hot, just ignore me, plus you were cold.”

             Lance rolled his eyes and ignored the fact that Keith was close. “Could you at least move over so I can see Hunk. I was talking to him before you interrupted.”

            “It’s-it’s ok, I uh just remembered I have to find Pidge,” Hunk said.

            “You scared him off!” Lance grumbled.

            “I was hot, what did you want me to wait until I was melting?”

            “No, but it’s not fair!”

            “Ugh!” Keith yelled scrambling to his feet. “You are unreasonable.”

            Despite their contact, Lance started to feel cold after Keith left. He didn’t know if it was because of his powers or the fact Keith left.

            Keith stomped towards the training barracks. If he couldn’t stand Lance, then at least he could get some training in. “Woah Keith,” Shiro said when he almost ran into him.

            “Sorry, was going to do some training.”

            “You said that yesterday,” Shiro said. “Is there something wrong?”

            “Lance! We’re supposed to stay in contact so we cancel our powers out, but Lance is such a baby about it!”

            “Keith you’re smoking again.”

            “We’re supposed to stay in contact, but I can barely stand him!”

            “You should talk to him about this.”

            “No thanks!” Keith growled and stomped away.

            “I wonder if I should tell him that his hair was on fire,” Shiro muttered and sighed.

            That night Keith refused to go to Lance’s room. _‘He can freeze for all I care.’_

            Staring up at the ceiling, he sweated. Hotter, hotter, it was near unbearable. Bang bang! “Keith open up! I’m freezing over here!” Lance yelled through the door.

            _‘I can keep this up, I don’t have to go open the door. I don’t have to sweat through every single item of clothing I own either.’_

            Bang bang! “I know you’re in there! I’m gonna go get Pidge and make them break into your room!”

            Rolling his eyes, Keith got to his feet and stomped over to the door. It swished open and he glared at Lance with a deadened look on his face. “Get in here idiot.”

            “Idiot! I wasn’t the one who wouldn’t open the door!”

            “Just get in here, I’m tired and I have training tomorrow.”

            “We all have training tomorrow.”

            “Some of us don’t take an hour to beautify.”

            Lance huffed trailing blankets behind him as he headed towards the bed. “Some of us need to look our best at all times.”

            _‘My eyes are going to strain from all this eye rolling,’_ Keith thought climbing into bed.

            It took Lance a millisecond to latch onto Keith, wrapping his arms around him. “Mmmm warmth.”

            “Now you want to cuddle,” Keith muttered.

            “I heard that. This is different than you crawling into my lap. A little warning next time!”

            “Shut it, I want to sleep.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2 like I promised. I'll try to work on chapter 3 tomorrow. Luckily school doesn't start till next week for me, so I'm going to try and get as much as I can before I'm bogged down with homework haha. Enjoy! 
> 
> (also wik the comments have been keeping me going, and the kudos and the page views, so thank you so much!)

            The next morning when Keith woke, Lance was half lying on his chest, head resting under his chin. Their hands were tangled together. _‘This is too much,’_ Keith thought.

            “Lance, hey get off!”

            Blue eyes flickered open and Lance looked up realizing their faces were inches apart. Cool breath fanned across Keith’s face. Heat, unlike being apart from his cold counterpart fanned across his cheeks. “Could you uhm move?”

            Lance scrambled off Keith faster than he thought the other paladin could move. “Sorry, sorry.”

            Sorry didn’t come easily to Lance, nor did embarrassment, but his dark cheeks were flush and he didn’t make eye contact with Keith. “See you later.”

            Keith opened his mouth to say something, surprisingly stay settled in his throat, but it died on his tongue. The door swished open and shut, then open cause Lance got his blanket stuck in the door.

            Sighing, Keith laid back and stared up at the ceiling. What was he doing? Avoiding Lance was impossible, because he would start heating up. Plus, they already were in the habit of finding each other over the course of the day and touching. Even if it was just Lance leaning his head on Keith’s shoulder, or holding hands.

            “Paladins training starts in twenty minutes,” Allura’s voice called over the intercom.

            Right, training. Keith got out of bed and dressed. It was nice to be able to wear pants again, and not overheat.

            Lance was the last one to the training barracks, as usual. He smiled, his skin looking fabulous as usual. “Good morning.”

            “Lance you’re late,” Allura chastised.

            “I had to do my beauty routine.”

            He went and stood next to Keith reaching out and tangling their hands together. “Today we’re going to work on level three, whoever is left standing gets the rest of the day from training.”

            The paladins readied themselves and training began.

            Everyone was exhausted the hours after training ended. Allura made them stay an extra hour, because no one could beat the simulator robot. Keith flopped on one of the couches in the lounge. “I’m beat.”

            “Not even the best of the best could beat it,” Lance said grinning.

            “I don’t think anyone could beat that monster,” Hunk sighed sitting down next to Keith.

            Lance draped himself across the back of the couch. “My muscles hurt.”

            “I think that was a good session,” Shiro said.

            The rest of the paladins glared at him. “Training is a learning experience.”

            “You only went down twice,” Pidge said. “Unlike Lance who went down, seven times.”

            “You counted!”

            Pidge grinned and sauntered off. Reaching down, Lance brushed his hand over Keith’s hair, instantly cooling the sweat that had formed in the thick locks. “Your hair is soft,” Lance muttered.

            “If you’re cold get over here,” Keith grumped.

            “No, I’m good.”

            “I’m going to go shower, I stink,” Hunk said.

            That left the two of them alone, again. Lance got up and leisurely walked over and sat down next to Keith. “Mmmm I’m cold.”

            “Then just lay on me idiot.”

            “I’m not an idiot.”

            Keith closed his eyes dozing when he felt a cold weight resting on him. Cracking one eye open, he saw Lance laying on him. Fumbling a little, he found Lance’s hand and tangled their fingers together. Hand holding seemed to be the best solution to their temperature problems, next to cuddling. _‘I’m only doing this because I’m hot.’_

            Not that contact with Lance had started to make his heart speed up, or the fact that a tiny part of him liked waking up next to someone. Even if it was Lance.

            Keith decided napping with Lance was just fine.

            “Do you think we should wake them?” Allura whispered.

            “They look so sweet together,” Shiro said in a hushed voice. “It looks like they’re finally getting along.”

            Lance cracked his eyes open and sat up, forgetting he was resting on Keith’s chest. “What?” he asked spotting Allura and Shiro.

            “Nothing.”

            Lance looked down and he screeched, scrambling backwards and off Keith. “Oomf, what the, Lance!”

            “I need to shower!” Lance erupted and stomped off.

            Keith sat up rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “What was that all about?”

            “Nothing, Lance was sleeping on top of you, and you were holding hands,” Allura burst out. “Shiro I believe we have business to attend to.”

            He’d never seen Shiro dragged out so quickly, but it was Allura. _‘Sleeping on me, holding hands, right,’_ Keith thought. _‘Why is my heart racing?’_

Keith got up and headed to his quarters. The heat he’d felt from waking up with Lance on his chest was completely different than the heat from his stupid powers.

            It was nice to take a shower that wasn’t ice cold, he could use hot water this time. He wasn’t feeling hot yet, must have been the nap. Still, it was nice having Lance so close, but Keith didn’t know if he felt the same way.

            Turning off the water, Keith got out and dried himself off. The castle towels were completely unlike the ones he was used to on Earth, for one they didn’t ever seem to get wet. A knocking on his door made him jolt. “Keith, you in there?”

            _‘Lance?’_

            Forgetting he was only wearing a towel, his hair still dripping water, he opened the door. “Yes?”

            “I-I-” Lance started, but his voice faded away as his face turned bright red.

            Clapping hands over his eyes he turned around. “Put some damn clothes on Keith!”

            Keith glanced down and blinked. Oh, right, he was only wearing a towel. “S-sorry, just give me a minute.”

            He let the door swish close in Lance's face and turned to get dressed. He threw on a pair of pants and a shirt. Lance was a bit calmer when he opened the door again. “What did you need?”

            “Hunk is making dinner, I was sent to get you.”

            “Oh, right, let’s go.”

            They walked in silence, neither one of them wanting to talk. Normally Lance wouldn’t shut up, and by now they would be arguing about something stupid. It was nice. Their hands brushed once, then twice. Was he trying to hold Keith’s hand? Lance tangled their hands together, his cold hand warming against Keith’s hot one.

            They neared the mess hall and delicious smells floated through the air. “Smells great,” Keith said.

            “I’m starving,” Lance replied tugging his hand.

            They headed inside ready to eat.

 

+++

 

            The next day the castle flew towards a small planet and Allura wanted them to search for food and supplies for the castle. Instead of taking their lions, they were taking a shuttle pod.

            That morning Keith had surprised everyone during the mission briefing by walking behind Lance and draping his arms around his shoulders and leaning against his shoulder. The brief contact was enough to warm Lance up.

           Keith and Lance were situated together. It was getting easier to control their powers, especially since they’d started to spend so much time together. “I wonder what kind of life we’ll find down there,” Pidge said bouncing in excitement.

            “We need to be cautious,” Hunk said. “What if there’s monsters or something?”

            Sunlight flickered briefly from his fingers as if to try and calm him. “Not monsters, but I bet there will be creatures.”

            “Just throw sunlight at them, blind em!” Lance said.

            “Yeah, I could.”

            Shiro piloted them near the ground, landing the pod safely in a clearing. “I want you to stick together, no one goes alone. Don’t lose your trackers.”

            “C’mon Keith!” Lance said. “I want to see more.”

            He jogged away from the group, excitement on his face. “Lance wait up!” Keith yelled.

            “Keith don’t go out of sight!” Hunk yelled.

            Thick oily leaves rubbed against his hands, but he was intent on following Lance. _‘He’s so fast,’_ Keith thought.

            He kept getting flashes of Lance through the trees. “Wait up!”

            Finally, he caught up with Lance, who had stopped in his tracks. “What, what’s wrong?” Keith huffed only a little.

            An odd scaly creature was climbing down one of the ginormous purple trees that grew from the ground. It focused four eyes on Lance and growled, flicking its tail. Whatever it was it seemed to want to attack Lance. Lance held up his paladin shield, eyes closing. It would be too late for him to reach Lance. “Lance!” Keith yelled flames bursting from his fingers.

            They hit the alien creature setting it on fire, who screeched and ran off tail between their legs. “Keith woah!” Lance exclaimed. “That was so cool!”

            Keith stared at his fingers, they were only a tiny bit pink and warm to the touch. He had no idea he could do that. “I just thought I was a walking volcano.”

            “Well Hunk shoots sunlight from his smile alone,” Lance said shrugging.

            “Can you like I don’t know shoot ice or something?”

            “I have no idea. I’ve been too preoccupied trying not to freeze my ass off,” Lance said.

            Hunk appeared suddenly from between the thick foliage. “There you two are!” he said, then turned. “Shiro, Pidge I found them!”

            The rest of the paladins crawled through the foliage. It was thick and hard to maneuver through. “I told you not to go running off,” Shiro said, disappointment in his voice.

            “It’s so cool out here though,” Lance said. “I wanted to see more. Plus Keith was with me, I wasn’t alone.”

            “You were almost creature food,” Keith grumbled.

            “Maybe, but you were so cool shooting fire at it.”

            “You were almost attacked! What! Lance!” Hunk yelled. “That’s it, you’re going back to the shuttle!”

            “Hunk, just cause you’re my best friend doesn’t mean you can order me around. I’m a paladin of Voltron just like you!”

            Hunk sighed and reached over and pulled Lance into a hug. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

            “I know buddy.”        

            Lance patted Hunk’s back, trying to reassure him. “I’ll stay with the group.”

            Hunk released Lance from the hug and smiled. “Thanks.”

            The exploration went smoothly from then on, although Pidge only geeked out a little when they found three new plant species that could be used for food. They reacted to them quite friendly-like, curling up to wrap around their arms. “I’m liking these new powers.”

            “Better than freezing to death,” Lance muttered.

            Keith leaned over and whispered, “then who would I have to cuddle with at night?”

            Lance’s eyes widened and a flush crept on his cheeks. “Have you found enough resources yet?” Allura’s voice called over the com.

            “I think so,” Shiro said. “We’ll come back to the castle shortly.”

            While they walked back to the shuttle pod, Keith stumbled upon what looked like a beach and a small lake. The water was tinged pink, which was odd. “Is that water?”

            Hunk scanned the lake and he grinned. “It only has halite crystal dissolved in it.”

            “Halite?” Keith questioned.

            “Saltwater, it’s saltwater.”

            “I wonder how it got here?”

            “I don’t care, who wants to go swimming!” Lance said.

            “Wait Lance!”

            But Lance was already stripping off his paladin armor and his shirt. Clad only in his black under armor pants, he waded into the water. “It’s warm, c’mon in.”

            Before anyone could take a step, ice began to form around Lance freezing the water slowly. “Oh quiznak, Keith a little help. I’m stuck.”

            Keith chuckled and stood near the water’s edge. “It’s your fault you forgot about your powers,” Keith said.

            “C’mon please!”

            “Fine.”

            He pulled off his paladin armor and shirt, chucking his boots next to his armor. The water steamed when he entered, bubbling just a little. “Here,” Keith offered giving Lance a hug.

            The water around Lance began to melt, warming up. “I’m coming in, make sure you stay with Keith Lance,” Hunk said. “I’m not going to get frozen.”

            Pidge stayed out of the water, insisting they were fine. Shiro stayed with them, stating that he didn’t know if his Galra arm was water proof. Hunk ran towards the edge and jumped in splashing the two others.

            It felt good to relax and just have fun. It almost felt like they were back on earth almost.

 

(I found some mistakes and edited them because I am an idiot and didn't proof read this. I don't mind having errors pointed out though). 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should warn everyone this has death in the chapter. 
> 
> Also wik, the comments; you guys are killing me with kindness. All the kudos too. I live on comments and kudos so thank you!
> 
> Enjoy!

(Another note, I do have a [tumblr](http://writing-in-a-daydream.tumblr.com/) if anyone feels the need to visit my blog. I will warn you it is mainly fandoms, nonsense thoughts, and like 42% cats). I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

* * *

           Oddly the rest of the day, neither of them needed touching to control their powers. When Lance started feeling cold though, he went right to Keith’s door. “Hey mullet head open up.”

            The door swished open. “Stop calling me mullet head idiot.”

            “Then stop calling me idiot mullet head,” Lance drawled.

            “Get in here then.”

            Keith was already stripped down to a pair of shorts, sweat beading on his skin. Lance couldn’t help but remember Keith in a towel from earlier that day and swallowed hard. _‘He’s only cuddling with you so he’s not hot, it’s nothing more,’_ Lance thought.

            His heart clenched in pain at that thought. The tiny part of him that liked cuddling Keith and waking up next to him the next morning, touching during the day was growing. It was almost too big to stuff deep down inside him.

            “Are you going to come to bed or stand there like an idiot?” Keith grumbled. “I’m tired and it’s late.”

            “Alright don’t get your boxers in a twist.”

            “They are not!” Keith protested.

            Lance sighed and climbed into bed. Their hands found each other, tangling together, and Keith’s arm snaked around Lance’s waist.

            Ten minutes of peace, then the alarm blared loud and annoying. “Ugh I just got to sleep!” Lance protested.

            “Galra forces detected, paladins to your lions!” Allura called over the com.

            Lance groaned not wanting to leave the warmth that was Keith. “Move Lance, I need to get dressed.”

            “Finnnneeee,” Lance whined.

            Keith shook his head, of course Lance didn’t want to leave. At least the short time they were together helped. He didn’t feel like he was going to sweat out of his armor.

            Lance was in full paladin armor and already waiting when Keith arrived. He was a little shocked that Lance wasn’t running behind as usual. Everyone got into their lions and flew out of the castle.

            The Galra forces was small, only a handful of small ships, but they put up a big fight. “Paladins, I was able to detect that there are prisoners aboard one of the Galra vessels. Keith and Shiro, I want you to go in and try to rescue them,” Allura said, popping up in the video screen. “Lance, Hunk, and Pidge give them cover. I’ll send the location to you.”

            The red and the black lion flew towards one of the bigger Galra ships, tearing their way into the ship. “You go in first Keith, I’ll guard the lions,” Shiro said.

            Keith exited Red and flew into the hole in the ship. He pulled out his sword, keeping his guard up. Heat began to spread along his limbs. _‘Not this,’_ Keith thought. _‘Not right now.’_

            A Galra soldier spotted him. “Intruder!” he yelled.

            Keith cut him down, and ran towards the prisoner bay. If he could just reach them. Sweat dripped down his face. Two more Galra soldiers attacked, shooting at him. Keith used his shield, but it was hard to concentrate when he was a million degrees. “Keith, are you there?” Shiro called over the com in his helmet.

            “A little busy,” Keith said.

            Another Galra robot attacked from behind, this time with an electrical shocker. Keith screamed as he slowly fell into darkness.

 

+++

 

            When Keith woke, he was hot, so very hot. He wasn’t alone. There were two other aliens in his cell and they watched him curiously. “What?” Keith snapped wiping sweat from his face.

            “Are you ill?” one of them asked.

            Keith groaned, flames flickering on his fingers. “No, just…hot.”

            Both of them stepped back, fear clear on their faces. “Elemental?”

            It was worse than the first nights he refused to cuddle with Lance. His body had adjusted to being cooled at night and whenever he wanted. Now, he was a million degrees and nothing was helping. Flames flickered across his skin, ghosting into the air. “Too hot,” Keith gasped.

            Fire spilled off him and started to fill the cell. His eyes glowed a deep red, the urge to burn, to melt filling him. His paladin armor began to smoke, the black under armor on fire.

          The other aliens screamed and attempted to stay away. Rising to his feet, Keith stepped forwards, each step hissing and melting the metal floor beneath him. The bars of the cell turned red and melted away to ash.

         He made his way through the corridors of the Galra ship. The remaining Galra soldiers tried to stop him, but they soon were burnt to ash, their screams fading away. _‘I have to calm down,’_ Keith thought struggling with the urge to melt everything in sight.

            When Keith reached the cockpit, he reached for the radio, or what he thought was the radio. _‘Lance, think of Lance.’_

            It didn’t melt when he touched it, which was good. Now, how was he going to contact the castle. He didn’t have his helmet, so no luck there. Allura had taught all the paladins the S.O.S frequency that the castle used, but would it reach?

            Pushing it over and over, he waited and hoped.

            Hours passed and Keith sweated. The urge to melt kept rising in his mind and it was driving him insane. He needed Lance, but still silence. Then, a crackling sound. “This is Princess of Allura of Altea, who is using the S.O.S code, answer me?” came her voice over the com.

            “Allura, it’s me, Keith.”

            “Keith! Are you alright? Where are you at?”

            “I’m on a Galra ship, I don’t know where though, ugh…”

            “Are you hurt?”

            “No, just-my powers-hot.”

            “Don’t worry I locked onto your paladin armor, we’re coming!”

            Keith sighed and leaned back in the chair, noticing it was smoking and parts of the metal had melted. “Hurry,” he whispered.

            Lance couldn’t wait for them to reach Keith. He had on the warmest clothes he could find, layering them over his paladin armor. Everyone told him to stop touching things, because he kept freezing objects. “Getting captured by the Galra, that idiot,” Lance said his teeth chattering. “I’m gonna punch him.”

            Since they couldn’t form Voltron, everyone piled into a shuttle craft and flew out to the beeping red icon that was Keith.

            It didn’t take long either, but Shiro flew as fast as he could. The fact that the interior of the shuttle craft was below freezing made him hurry. “I’m going to handcuff you two together so you can’t ever be apart,” Hunk protested as he huddled into his armor. “Share one of those blankets.”

            “No,” said Lance’s voice from under a pile of blankets.

            “But I’m freezing!” Hunk complained.

            He tugged at the edge of one of the blankets, but Lance was firmly wrapped. “I second handcuffing you two together. You stole all the blankets in the castle last night, **again** Lance,” Pidge said glaring at the pile of blankets.

            “I told you I’m freezing.”

            The Galra ship came into view and everyone-well except Lance-sighed in relief. “We’re here Lance, get out of those blankets and find Keith,” Shiro ordered.

            They docked on the side of the ship and Shiro forced the door open. It was completely quiet, but everyone had their bayard weapons out and ready-again except for Lance who still had a blanket wrapped around himself-to fire on any Galra soldiers they found.

            Hunk’s eyes widened in shock when he saw the damage Keith had done. Two skeletons still smoking lay in a cell, melted metal in the shape of steps. The cell bars had been liquefied into misshapen twisted shapes. “Are those-finger imprints?” Pidge asked looking closer.

            The footsteps left the cell, moving away and down the hallway. More skeletons awaited them. “I think these were Galra soldiers,” Hunk said in awe. “What did Keith do?”

            When they reached the cockpit, everyone had to shield back from the heat that radiated through the door. Lance on the other hand sighed and stepped closer. “That feels good, warmth. Keith you idiot are you in there?”

            Lance walked inside his eyes widening. Keith’s paladin armor had curled around the edges, pieces melted and his black under armor fabric was pretty much burnt away. “You made it,” Keith sighed.

            Lance leaned down and hugged him, wrapping his arms around Keith. Warm, it felt so good to be warm. “I’m sorry,” Keith said, red hot tears filling his eyes. “I killed them didn’t I?”

            “The Galra soldiers?” Lance asked.

            He didn’t want to bring up the other two skeletons in the cell. “No, the other prisoners.”

            “Yeah,” Lance whispered tightening his arms around Keith.

            “I didn’t mean to,” Keith sobbed tightening his hands around Lance, his fingers trying to find something to hold on his smooth paladin armor. “I couldn’t control it. I never want to do that ever again.”

            “Keith?” Shiro’s voice called through the door. “Are you ready to come back to the castle?”

            “It’ll be a minute Shiro,” Lance called back.

            Lance pulled Keith’s face up, fingers curling around his cheeks. “It’s not your fault.”

            Tear still filled Keith’s eyes, silently rolling down his cheeks. “I could’ve stopped myself Lance.”

            “No, not from what I saw.”

            Lance leaned forward resting his forehead on Keith’s. “Buddy, it’s ok. I’m here, I’ll always be here for you.”

            Keith gave him a watery smile and leaned back to wipe his eyes. “My paladin armor is melted.”

            “Mine froze, but it looks fine now. I bet Coran can fix it, c’mon, let’s head back to the castle.”

            Lance helped Keith to his feet and they walked out of the cockpit. “The heat is much better now,” Hunk said. “I’m glad it’s not freezing in here either.”

            “You ok Keith?” Shiro asked.

            “Yeah.”

            “I’m cooking when we get back to the castle,” Hunk said. “Late night snacking is always good for team bonding.”

            “I’m sorry,” Keith said in a small voice. “We didn’t get to rescues the prisoners.”

            Shiro patted his shoulder. “It’s ok Keith.”

            “We’re just glad you’re safe,” Pidge piped up. “You’re lucky Allura can call back the lions, or Shiro would’ve had to drag Red back with him.”

            They all headed back to the shuttle pod and back to the castle. The entire time, Lance held Keith’s hand.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am too impatient to wait till tomorrow to post this. So here's the next chapter, because I have no life and my muse is being helpful for once. 
> 
> Enjoy! 
> 
> (Also if there's any spelling errors or issues it's because I barely proofread this > > I'm sorry in advance).

            Allura found the paladins in the mess hall after they came back to the castle. “What is going on? Keith needs to be checked over and I need to know what happened.”

            Coran followed behind her. “Can I help?”

            “No, the last time you cooked I couldn’t feel my tongue for two hours,” Hunk retorted. “You stay back.”

            Coran pouted, a move he clearly had learned from Lance. “Fine,” Hunk sighed. “Go chop this root, I think?”

            Lance hadn’t let go of Keith the entire time, and currently they were sitting on the floor, Keith in Lance’s lap. Both their hands were tangled together, and Lance was resting his chin on Keith’s shoulder. Lance told himself it was because he was cold, but in reality it was because Keith hadn’t stopped shaking.

            Allura glanced at the two, her lips pursed thin and she settled her hands on her hips. “What happened?”

            “Keith kind of got captured and because Lance wasn’t there, he basically melted the Galra ship and everyone inside,” Pidge said.

            “Oh,” Allura replied her voice small and soft. “You still can’t control your powers?”

            Keith blinked rapidly and swallowed hard. Tears pricked in his eyes and he curled his body inwards. Lance squeezed his hands, brushing a thumb over the back of his hand. “No. Not without Lance here.”

            “Does the castle have handcuffs on board? I am permanently handcuffing these two together for the rest of their lives,” Hunk said turning from the stove.

            “Huhn?” Coran asked. “Handcuffs? Is that some earth thing?”

            “Hunk we’re not handcuffing them together,” Shiro said. “Just have to make sure they’re never apart.”

            Keith turned his head upwards. “Lance, do we have to stay here?” he whispered.

            “No, need a shower?” Lance murmured back.

            “Yeah.”

            “Although this party is great, I’m exhausted and so we’re gonna go,” Lance said.

            The other paladins stared at them. “I’ll save you some food for later,” Hunk offered.

            “Thanks buddy.”

            Pidge stared at them a little too long, curiosity in their eyes. “See you in the morning then,” they said waving a hand.

            Lance helped Keith to his feet and they left the mess hall. “Are you alright?” Lance asked as they headed to Keith’s quarters.

            A pain filled dry laugh burst from Keith. “What do you think? I killed people,” he said. “I’m a murderer.”

            “Hey now, it wasn’t your fault.”

            Lance stopped Keith in his tracks and turned him to face him, hands pressed into his shoulders. “We didn’t ask for these powers, they were thrown at us. It’s been such a short time too, it wasn’t your fault.”

            Tears filled Keith’s eyes and rolled down his cheeks. “It still doesn’t mean that I don’t feel guilty about those prisoners. They did nothing wrong and I incinerated them.”

            “C’mon, you need a shower and sleep.”

            Lance dragged Keith to his quarters and opened the door. It was a little difficult getting the melted armor off Keith. _‘His fingers are so gentle,’_ Keith thought.

            “Ugh come off,” Lance protested pulling at his shoulder piece.

            It came off with a pop, but Lance tumbled on his butt. To Keith surprise and horror, he laughed. It bubbled up and out, accompanied by a smile. “Stubborn piece,” Lance grumbled.

            “I think I can manage the rest,” Keith said.

             “I’m gonna go shower and change real quick ok?” Lance said.

            “Kay.”

            Lance reached over and squeezed Keith’s hand. “I’ll be back.”

            The door swished open and shut and Keith was alone. He finished getting undressed, which was the easiest part, since most of his underclothes were burnt to ash. Turning on the hot water to the shower, he waited for it to heat up.

            For once, he wanted a hot shower to help with the numbness he felt. Steam filled the bathroom while he got clean. It felt good, very good.     

            Keith pushed his armor out of sight when he got out, towel drying his hair. He got dressed in the comfiest clothes he could find. A knock on his door made him start. “Keith, you still in there?”

            He opened the door, letting it swish open. Lance’s hair was still wet, sticking up at random angles and he was in pj’s. “You look better,” Lance said coming inside.

            Keith curled up in bed waiting for Lance to join him. “I feel a little better.”

            The mattress sunk as Lance got in, moving so he was next to Keith. He wrapped and arm around Keith’s waist, pulling himself close. “Try to get some sleep.”

            “Kay.”

            Closing his eyes, Keith tried to sleep.

 

            _He was back in the cell, the prisoners inching away from him. Fear clear on their faces. “Stay away from us! Monster!”_

_“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!” Keith yelled._

_Fire flooded the room, pouring off him in waves. The flames engulfed the prisoners, their screams haunting in his ears. “Keith! Keith!”_

Keith’s eyes snapped open and he sat up with a loud gasp. Sweat lightly coated his skin, his shirt stuck to him. “Keith, hey it’s ok,” Lance said. “Nightmare?”

            His throat was too dry to speak, so he simply nodded. Lance wrapped his arms around Keith and held him. Tears leaked out, soaking Lance’s shirt. “Want to tell me about it?”

            Slowly, he shook his head, unable to meet Lance’s eyes. It was Lance that reached up and gently wiped the tears from his eyes. “It’s ok,” he whispered.

            When Keith met his eyes, they were soft pools of blue. The way he made Keith feel, his heart beating faster, it was too much.

            It was either desperation or the fact that Keith was upset and half awake, he wasn’t sure, but Keith threw caution to the wind and leaned closer to Lance. So close their noses brushed, and Keith could feel his warm breath on his face. “Can I kiss you?”

            His voice was barely more than a murmur and at first Keith thought Lance hadn’t heard him. Then Lance closed the distance between them and pressed his lips against Keith’s. Cool lips, soft and smooth contacted his warm dry ones. The kiss was chaste, just a simple press of lips together. “You need chapstick mullet head,” Lance said a silly smile on his face.

            “Sorry.”

            Lance answered him with another kiss, soft peppery ones. His hands slid around Keith’s neck playing with his hair. “We should go back to sleep,” he said.

            “Kay,” Keith replied.

            “Sweet dreams,” Lance said snuggling close.

            Keith watched as Lance’s eyes fell shut, watching him for five minutes before making sure he was asleep. “I like you,” he whispered pressing his lips against Lance’s cheek.

            Letting his eyes close, Keith fell asleep, no nightmares to wake him.

 

+++

 

            Two days passed and Lance noticed that Keith was avoiding him. At least they were spending less time together touching. “Where’s Keith?” Hunk asked when Lance plopped down in a chair in the mess hall.

            “I dunno, training or something.”

            “You’re wearing four layers, aren’t you cold?”

            He pointed some sort of orange vegetable root at Lance who shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

            “What happened?”

            “A couple days ago, ya know when the whole melty Keith thing happened, well I kissed him,” Lance said.

            “You, you-kissed Keith?” Hunk emphasized. “Why?”

            Lance flung his hands in the air, then tugged at his hair. “Because he asked if he could kiss me, because I like him, and I hope he feels the same. It’s all this stupid powers shit,” Lance spouted.

            “You like Keith? I thought he was your rival?” Hunk asked while chopping the root.

            “He is, was-I dunno.”

            “What’s the noise about?” Pidge asked peeking into the mess hall. 

            “Lance likes Keith, and he thinks Keith likes him back, and he kissed Keith, that’s the jist of it,” Hunk explained dumping the root into a pot of steaming broth.

            “Hunk!” Lance screeched. “Why did you tell Pidge?”

            “Because they asked.”

            Lance let his head slam down on the table in front of him. “I’m gonna go curl up in my quarters and freeze to death, because I don’t know how else I am going to live now.”

            “Don’t be so dramatic,” Hunk said. “You get like this every time you like someone.”

            “It’s in my nature.”

            “I think you should go find Keith and talk to him,” Pidge said. “If you’re this worried it would be logical to communicate with him.”

            “Riiight, and he’s just going to sit down and talk back like it’s nothing.”

            “Pidge is right,” Hunk said. “Go.”

            Lance sighed and nodded. “Save me some of that will you?”

            “Sure thing, go,” Hunk said waving a ladle at him.

            Leaving the mess hall, Lance tried to think of where to find Keith.  

            Keith was avoiding Lance, because well, he worried that he’d open his mouth and all his feelings would come spilling out. It was bad enough they kissed, but Keith wasn’t sure what the next step was. _‘Dating? I have no idea what I’m doing.’_

So, the logical reasoning was to avoid his feelings and avoid Lance as much as possible. Which was a little difficult since they were on a space ship in space and had to touch. Twice already Keith had set the training deck on fire. “If you’re doing that bad you should find Lance,” Shiro said coming in.

            “I’m fine,” Keith huffed.

            “Your hair is on fire again.”

            “Ugh, I just want these powers to go away, it’s hard enough that we’re fighting Zarkon and the Galra.”

            “I know, it’s not easy.”

            “Shiro, uhm-do you,” Keith started, then closed his mouth with a snap.

            It was too embarrassing. Way too embarrassing. “Do I what? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

            Gathering the remaining shreds of courage, Keith opened his mouth. “I like Lance and he kissed me the other night after I had a nightmare. I don’t know what to do now? Am I his boyfriend, what do I do next? Dates? How do I date someone in space?” Keith said, everything he was thinking spilling out of him.

            “Slow down, slow down. You like Lance?” Shiro asked.

            “Yes.”

            “And he kissed you?”

            Keith nodded.

            “Why aren’t you talking with Lance about this?”

            “Because it’s embarrassing and I don’t know if he likes me too.”

            “He kissed you.”

            “Maybe it was just to comfort me, cause I had a nightmare and was panicked.”

            “What do you think?”

            “No-maybe, I don’t know.”

            Keith shoved his hands in his hair tugging at the strands in frustration. He turned in circles panic making it hard to breath. A steady hand slowed him and made him stop. “Keith go talk to him, explain things.”

            “Yeah, you’re right.”

            It was easier said than done. Keith stood in front of Lance’s quarters for ten minutes trying to get the courage up to knock. “Yo Keith what’s up?” Lance’s voice came behind him. “Is my door that interesting?”

            Keith turned around slowly his throat drying instantly. Swallowing hard he tried to force moisture onto his tongue. “Can we talk?” he squeaked.

               “Sure, c’mon in,” Lance said pressing the button to open the door.

               The two headed inside, Keith a little slower. _‘Here goes nothing.’_


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm falling deeper into the rabbit hole on this fic. I really didn't plan on this thing growing to the size it is haha. Anywhos enjoy the new chapter!

            Lance flopped down on the bed, resting his arms behind his head. Keith couldn’t sit down he was too nervous. He paced back and forth a few times trying to get his courage back up. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Lance asked.

            “LanceIlikeyouandIthinkyoulikemeandyoukissedmeandidon’tknowwhattodo!” Keith burst out in one long spewing sentence.

            “Slow down,” Lance said sitting up. “I barely understood a word of that.”

            Keith wondered how Lance was acting so calm, his hands were shaking. Lance got up and stood in front of Keith. “I think all I got out of that was that you like me and something about a kiss.”

            He then noticed that Lance had trouble meeting his eye and he wasn’t reaching out to touch Keith. “I do-I like you,” Keith whispered. “I like kissing you.”

            He stared at his boots a blush fully heating his face and crawling down his neck. Gentle fingers pulled his chin up, meeting Lance’s eyes. “I like you too and I like kissing you.”

            “I-I’ve never dated anyone, I don’t know what to do,” Keith stammered, his voice lowering to a murmur. “That was my first kiss too.”

            It was embarrassing, and Lance would probably laugh at him. He closed his eyes waiting for Lance to make a joke, but it never came. “Keith why did you close your eyes?”

            He cracked one open, only to see Lance standing really close, really really close. Lance took his hands, lacing their fingers together. “Because-because I thought you’d laugh at me.”

            “Nope. Your first kiss was a little lack luster though, want to make it better?”

            Keith froze his face heating up, and not because of his powers. Unable to answer, he nodded. Lance let go of his hands and reached up to cup Keith’s face.

            Lance’s lips were cool and soft, pressing against his, one of his hands shifting into his hair. Keith didn’t know what to do with his hands, he hesitantly reached out towards Lance, then curled his hands back. He leaned back, breaking the kiss. “Keith, you can touch me, I want you to touch me, or I’ll feel lonely,” Lance said.

            Keith slid his arms around Lance’s waist and held him tight. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do.”

            “I’ll show you.”

            At first their kissing was chaste, pressing lips together, but then Lance bit down on Keith’s lower lip making him gasp. It sent a shiver down his spine and he shifted his hands on Lance’s waist, reaching the edge of his shirt. Keith didn’t quite know what to do when he deepened the kiss, Lance’s tongue exploring his mouth. Their teeth knocked together a few times and Keith had to reposition his mouth so their noses stopped hitting each other.

            Carefully Lance nudged Keith backwards until the back of his knees hit the bed and he fell backwards, hitting the mattress with a thump. They knocked heads a little, breaking the kiss. “Omf,” Keith said rubbing his forehead.

            Lance grinned, leaning over him. “I thought this would be more comfortable. Plus, then I can do this.”

            Starting at the corner of his lips, Lance brushed kisses along his jaw and down his neck. Keith was hot, heating up from the kisses, he clutched at the bedding a soft groan leaving his lips. Lance’s clever fingers slid down his chest pushing his shirt up, cool fingers against his hot skin. Neither of them noticed smoke curling from Keith’s hands, or the fact that the bedframe under them was slowly sinking.

            Lance suddenly froze, his lips pressed against Keith’s collarbone. “Keith, the bed is moving.”

            It suddenly shifted and fell to the ground with a loud thunk. “Did-did I melt the bed?” Keith asked in horror.

            The sheets underneath his hands were incinerated, ash shifting under his fingers. Laughter bubbled up in Lance’s chest. “Your face! Keith it’s ok!” Lance managed to get out while laughing. “I-I can’t believe you melted the bed.”

            “It’s all your fault!” Keith retorted but he couldn’t help but join in the laughter.            

            “I guess so, what now? Coran can fix it, right?” Lance asked.

            The two of them dissolved into laughter together, tear inducing, stomach hurting laughter.

            After about five minutes they’d calmed down and Keith realized something. “What are we going to tell Coran?”

            Lance shrugged.

            “What-what if he asks what we were doing to melt it,” Keith sputtered a blush flaring across his face.

            Lance shot finger guns at Keith, a wide grin on his face. “Leave the explaining to me. The real question is should we tell him now, or later?”

            “I don’t want to set anything else on fire though.”

            “Okay okay.”

            “Attention paladins, I need everyone to meet for a briefing,” Allura’s voice called over the com.

            “Looks like we’ll have to talk about your melted bed later, c’mon,” Lance said getting out of bed and extending a hand towards Keith.

            Keith took one last glance at the lopsided melted bed and took his hand. They left Lance’s room hand in hand. “I wonder what Allura needs to talk to us about?” Keith asked. 

            “Dunno, more training probably.”

            When they arrived, the rest of the paladins were waiting. Keith and Lance sat down and waited. “I have some good news. I’ve found the planet where your elemental powers originated from. I’ve sent a missive and they’ve responded. Their Queen is curious about human elementals, apparently it’s never happened before,” Allura said. “She wants to meet you.”

            “And what if we don’t want to meet this queen?” Pidge drawled.

            “You don’t really have a choice in the matter.”

            “Yeah I kinda do. I mean it’s not our fault we have to deal with these powers. The only person who hasn’t manifested their powers is Shiro. Lance and Keith can barely contain theirs and Hunk blinds everyone with his smile. Yes, let’s go visit the native people who have these powers.”

            Pidge’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on Allura who frowned. “My powers do work, I just don’t like using them,” Shiro spoke up.

            “I wanna see!” Lance piped up.

            “Yes,” Hunk said flashes of sunlight emitting from his grin.

            Everyone shielded their eyes reflexively. “Alright.”

            Despite the artificial lighting, Shiro basically disappeared into shadow, all except for his Galra arm. “Woah that’s so cool, except well your arm,” Hunk said.

            “Yeah, what’s up with that?” Keith asked.

            “I dunno, it doesn’t seem to like to cover it.”

            He reappeared, the dark shadows disappearing. A beep came from the com and Allura went to answer it. “It’s a message from the Queen of the Try’mair, we’re invited to dinner. I want everyone to go clean up. We’ll be arriving at the planet in two hours.”

            Allura glanced at Lance and gave him a ‘don’t tarry’ look. “You all should have formal wear in your quarters from measurements the castle took when it first scanned you.”

            The paladins all left to go get dressed. “I wonder what it will look like, I hate wearing fancy stuff,” Lance complained as they walked.

            “I-I think you’d look good in a suit,” Keith said shyly.

            Lance’s eyes widened and a flush crept across his cheeks. “T-thanks.”

            They split up and Lance glanced at the melted bed when he went into his quarters. A silly smile curled on his lips. _‘That kid is too innocent,’_ Lance thought.

            The formal wear hanging in the closet was Altean designed, obviously. After his shower, Lance started to get dressed. The black pants were tight fitting, similar to the under armor fabric for the paladin armor. A thigh length deep royal blue tunic with full sleeves went on after; the color scooping below his collarbone. Silver embroider swirled in patterns remanence of waves and water. A matching pair of black boots sat in the closet. _‘It’s kind of creepy that the castle could measure all that when it scanned us,’_ Lance thought shoving his feet into the boots.

            He combed his hair and made sure his skin looked flawless, giving one last glance to his appearance. “I look good,” he grinned shooting finger guns at his reflection.

            Hunk met him while he headed to the shuttle bay. His clothes were shades of gold and red with white instead of black and had a high collar instead of the lower swooping one Lance wore. His headband was gold fabric, with a small embroidered lion on it. “Looking good buddy,” Lance said.

            “You shine up pretty nice. Wonder what Keith will think.”

            “I’m gonna knock his socks off, I can’t help that I’m that good looking.”

            Shiro and Pidge were waiting for them, Keith wasn’t there yet. Shiro was dressed in black and white shining cloth, his Galra arm covered by black gloves. His tunic was white with black embroidery and black pants. “I feel silly,” Shiro said fiddling with the fingers of his gloves.

            “You look nice Shiro,” Pidge said. “I look ridiculous.”

            Their tunic was knee length and a deep emerald green, matching white loose pants underneath. The sleeves for Pidge’s shirt only went to their elbows, and they wore lace gloves patterned like leaves that stretched up past the sleeves. “Lance?” Keith’s voice called behind him.

            Lance turned around and his eyes widened. Keith walked into the shuttle bay. His throat dried up and Lance was barely able to hold it together and not go kiss him. Keith’s tunic was a deep red with lighter shades bleeding into the dark fabric at the bottom. It looked like flames, and he wore black pants and black boots, like Lance’s. His black hair was combed back into a small ponytail. Embroider curled around the high collar in the shape of flames. “You look,” Lance said swallowing hard. “You look amazing.”

            “If you two are planning on making out, please go to your quarters,” Pidge said deadpan.

            Both boys flushed red. “You look amazing yourself,” Keith said reaching out to take Lance’s hand. “I didn’t recognize you.”

            Lance squeezed his hand glad his heart had started again. “Is everyone ready?” Allura said sweeping into the room, Coran behind her.

            It was Shiro’s turn to swallow hard, his eyes wide. Allura wore a form figure hugging white silk dress, cut outs in her sleeves showing her shoulders. The gown swept behind her, and her hair was pulled into an elegant knot. She wore elbow length pale blue gloves. Coran also was dressed in Altean finery, in a suit similar to the one he normally wore, but had medals pinned to the front. “Don’t we paint a dashing picture,” Coran said twirling his mustache. “Didn’t think you’d all look so fine.”

            “Thanks Coran,” Hunk muttered.

            “Of course! Shall we?”

            Shiro rushed to help Allura into the pod, holding her hand, a faint flush on his cheeks. “Do you think that Shiro has a crush on Allura?” Lance whispered into Keith’s ear.

            Keith squinted, trying to see. “Maybe, I dunno.”

            “I’m starting a betting pool for when they get together, want in,” Pidge whispered next to them. “I did one for you two.”

            “What!” Lance sputtered.

            “I lost a lot of money because of you two,” they said, then climbed into the pod.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Writing the queen was so much fun, I hope you like her as much as I enjoyed writing her. 
> 
> Also thank you so much for your continued comments, kudos, and support. I really really appreciate just how much feedback I've received for this silly thing, which started off as an idea. 
> 
> Enjoy!

            The trip down to the planet didn’t take long. “Oh it reminds me of Altea,” Allura wistfully said when they landed.

            Tall elegant buildings rose into the air, a bustling city spreading out. The twin suns made the day bright, shining of the strange metals. “Greetings from her Royal Majesty YiHiai of the Try’mair,” a tall dark haired woman said. “I will be escorting you to the citadel where you will meet with her Majesty.”

            Their group followed her through the streets of the city. A myriad of aliens watched them as they passed, a whisper of alien languages rising in their wake. Keith tangled his hand together with Lance’s hoping it would help with the rising anxiety. Also, to combat the heat he felt.

            The citadel rose high into the air, spirals of shining metal and glass making them squint a little. Guards wearing black opened the doors, glancing curiously at Shiro. _‘I wonder if they can tell who is who,’_ Keith wondered.

            Lance squeezed his hand and smiled. The inside of the palace was just as impressive, stone and metal and glass shining and neat. Columns rose into a high ceiling, chandeliers hanging, their lights bright and unwavering.

            “Her Majesty is very excited to meet those that inherited the elemental powers from our people,” their guide said.

            It took about ten minutes of walking before they reached another set of high doors. Again, guards dressed in black opened them. The room inside was enormous, columns settled in neat rows, sculptures nestled in between them. Groups of elegantly dressed aliens mingled in the room, but the soft chatter fell silent when the group entered. An ethereal woman sat on a white throne at the end of the room.

            Her hair was a rainbow of colors hanging loosely around her shoulders, contrasting her dark skin. Two sets of silver eyes watched them curiously, framed in white eyelashes. Her gown, a deep red rustled softly as she rose, stepping down to greet their group. “Greetings paladins of Voltron, Princess Allura, Coran. I am Queen YiHiai.”

            Everyone bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Your Majesty,” Allura said stepping forwards. “I am glad you have agreed to an alliance, we are still sorely lacking.”

            Queen Yihiai smiled, showing sharp white teeth. “We have fought against the Galra for many years. My Father, Uhuaha bless him, died fighting Zarkon.”

            “Mine as well.”

            The Queen glanced over the paladins, her eyes curious. Keith didn’t like the predatory look she gave them, or deep searing gaze, like she could see into their very souls. She focused on Shiro for a moment, then moved on. “I’d like a demonstration please.”

            “Of their powers? I apologize Your Majesty, but they haven’t had much time to get used to them.”

            Pidge stepped closer. “I’ll show her, but I need a plant, uh Your Majesty.”

            “Excellent. Fetch a plant for this very small paladin.”

            They made a face at being called small, opening their mouth to say something, when Allura glared at them. Pidge closed their mouth with a snap and pushed up their glasses.

            A guard came forward with a thick leafed deep maroon colored plant. It began to move before the guard even got close to Pidge. “Very impressive for a child.”

            “Yes, thank you,” Pidge said their voice only a little sharp. “Your Majesty.”

            Hunk went next, managing to show his ability to shoot sunlight. The Queen nodded, smiling encouragingly. “Guess I’m next,” Lance grumbled.

            Keith was jittery after Lance left his side. He didn’t want to ruin his nice clothes and show just how unstable he was. Lance made an ice sculpture of a herd of horses the size of her hand. “What are these creatures?” the Queen inquired.

            “Horses, they’re creatures from my home world,” Lance said.

            _‘He’s not even trying to flirt with her,’_ Keith thought. _‘He must’ve been practicing his powers though to make something that pretty.’_

            “Lovely.”

            She seemed impatient to see Keith. “You’ll do fine, I’ll be right here if you need me,” Lance whispered as he walked up to him.

            Keith swallowed hard and stepped forwards. He held out his hands willing the fire to only appear on his hands and not everywhere. A small ball of fire flickered in his open palms. Queen Yihiai pouted a little, disappointment in her eyes. “I was hoping for more,” she said tapping a finger on her chin.

            “I-I can’t control it very well,” Keith stammered the flame disappearing. “I didn’t-I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

            The Queen stepped forward and slid one long pointed finger nail down his cheek. “You have a great power paladin, don’t be afraid of it.”

            Lance clenched his hands into fists, cool air radiating from him. _‘Don’t touch him,’_ he thought gritting his teeth.

            “Careful Lance,” Hunk whispered leaning over towards him. “You’re making ice under your feet.”

            The Queen dismissed Keith, who gladly went to stand next to Lance. “Are you ok?” Lance asked wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

            “I’m-I’m fine.”

            Shiro was last. He had pulled off his gloves, nervously wringing them in his hands. The Queen watched as he disappeared, all but his hand, the shining metal showing up. The Queen raised an eyebrow in confusion.

            “All your powers are impressive for such fragile looking creatures. You, you have the shadow element, but you don’t use it?”

            Shiro shook his head. “No.”

            “Why is that?”

            “My arm, it doesn’t really like the shadow.”

            “Wait, I recognize-Galra technology, you brought Galra tech to our planet?” she screeched. “Guards!”

            Black figures melted from the shadows forming into soldiers, rushing towards Shiro. “No!” Keith yelled.

            Heat erupted from him, flames rushing off him. He ran and stood in front of Shiro. “You can’t touch him!”

            “You dare use your powers against me?” the Queen yelled.

            The guards shielded their faces from the heat emitting from Keith. “He can’t help it!”

            “You, you’re his counterpart, contain him!” the Queen screamed pointing at Lance.

            “Not when you threaten my teammate,” Lance said resting his hands on his hips.

            Allura rushed in apparently trying for diplomacy. “Calm yourself Keith. I’m sorry Your Majesty, we meant no disrespect.”

            “Is he a spy for the Galra? How dare he have the elemental powers we possess, it’s an atrocity!” Queen Yihiai shrieked.

            Lance walked over and draped his arms around Keith. His fire went out almost immediately, cooling down. Luckily only a few pieces of his clothing were burnt, smoke still curling off him. “It wasn’t Shiro’s choice!” Pidge snapped. “How dare you accuse him of being a spy!”

            Queen Yihiai stared at the group in shock. “You protect this abomination? Why?”

            “Because he’s our friend and our fellow paladin,” Hunk grumped. “The black lion chose him, he’s our leader.”                   

            “He’s not an abomination, he’s one of the best pilots I know,” Lance retorted.

            “I’d fight anyone who disagrees,” Keith said.

            To everyone’s shock, Queen Yihiai burst out laughing. “Oh my, loyal and brave. Princess your paladins are quite amusing.”

            “Thank-thank you Your Majesty,” Allura said giving the queen a shaky smile.

            “Now, I have business to attend to. There will be a ball later this evening. One of my people will show you where you can rest and refresh until then.”

            Guards followed them when they left the throne room. _‘Still don’t trust Shiro,’_ Keith thought grumpily.

            The room they were shown to was almost as spacious as the throne room. Tables of food lay along one wall, couches, lounges, and piles of pillows and blankets curved across the opposite wall. Everything screamed decadence and money.  Pidge sighed and flopped down on one of the giant pillows, stretching out. “That was fun,” they drawled leaning back their head.

            “Yeah, nothing says friendly like calling one of our friends an abomination,” Lance grumped.

            “It’s ok guys, really,” Shiro said standing off to the side, his gloves back on.

            “Shiro it was not ok, I wanted to say something,” Allura spoke up. “Diplomacy isn’t as easy as Father made it seem.”

            Lance headed over to the tables staring at the strange alien food. “Wonder if any of this is actually edible.”

            “Dunno, why don’t you try some and let me know,” Pidge said.

            Tension still hung in the air, from what the Queen said. “Do we even know if the Galra can’t track my arm?” Shiro said, his voice low.

            Allura tried to smile, but worry swam in her eyes. She reached over and patted his non Galra arm. “It’s ok, don’t worry about it.”

            The rest of the evening before the ball was spent in very awkward and nervous silence. None of them ate, even though the food did smell good. Keith and Lance had settled on one of the couches, Keith resting his head on Lance’s lap. Lance absentmindedly played with his hair, running his fingers through his dark locks. “Thanks for cooling me down,” Keith said.

            “No prob.”

            Keith reached up and pulled Lance down to kiss him. “No PDA allowed!” Pidge snapped

            Lance’s cheeks were flush, but he smiled down at Keith. The door to the room they were in opened and the same Try’mairian came into the room bowing. “The ball is starting, I will be escorting you, please follow me.”

            Everyone got to their feet, straightening their clothes first. Keith grimaced, hoping no one noticed the burnt edges of his tunic or the burnt spots. Their group filed out of the room and down the hall to the ballroom. “I wonder what this is going to be like?” Lance whispered in Keith’s ear.

            “I don’t know, I’ve never even been to a party, let alone a ball,” Keith whispered back.

            “When we get back to earth, I’m taking you to a house party. Red solo cups, bad music, even worse dancing. It’ll be fun.”

            Keith smiled and reached over to grab his hand and squeeze it. “Yeah that would be great.”

            They reached another set of massive tall doors made of shining metal. Guards dressed in black opened them and their guide entered the ballroom. “Announcing Princess Allura of Altea and the Paladins of Voltron,” she said raising her voice.

            “Here we go,” Keith murmured.

            In they went, most of them not ready.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is a mess. It's a filler and I suck at filler chapters. Thanks for being patient with me and being so nice <3\. (I didn't plan at all).

            There were a lot of aliens in the ballroom and the fact that everyone’s attention was now on their group made everyone nervous. Queen Yihiai swept through the crowd towards them.

            Her gown was a deep royal blue this time, sleeveless and showing off muscular arms. “Welcome,” she said.

            Allura curtsied. “Thank you for your invitation,” she said smiling.

            It was an odd reaction, since earlier she’d been so angry. Everyone put on a smile, knowing they had to look good as paladins. Also, represent the human race well, because they were the only humans present. “Want to get something to drink?” Lance asked. “There might be something safe for us.”

            “Sure, Hunk you coming?”

            “Yeah I am!”

            The three of them walked over to the gigantic tables laden with food and drink. A three-foot fountain bubbled sparkling green liquid and a server dressed in green stood next to it. “Would you like some parsil?” he asked.

            “Sure,” Keith said.

            He scooped some of the liquid into a slender glass goblet and handed it to him. Nervously Keith stared at the liquid. “It could be better than nunvill,” Keith murmured.

            “Anything is better than nunvill.”

            “I’ll take some of that please,” Hunk said.

            His hands made the glass look even tinier, but he drank some down. “This is really good, kind of tea, mint-ish, and chicken?”

            Keith sipped some of the parsil. “It’s good, in a weird way.”

            They began to sample food along the table, finding some that was good, and others that weren’t so palatable to human tongues. Pidge stayed near Shiro, clearly bored and not interested. “If I knew I was going to have to spend time at a ball I would’ve stayed in the castle.”

            “Same, I feel so out of place,” Shiro said.

            “The trio seem to be enjoying themselves with the food, want to check up on them?”

            Shiro nodded and Pidge headed across the room, their stride quick. “Oh, you are one of the paladins?” A very tall and very curvaceous alien said stopping Pidge.

            “Yes,” Pidge said.

            “You as well,” she said. “I thought they were simply children’s tales.”

            “I assure you Voltron is real,” Shiro said. “Excuse us.”

            “Nice going,” Pidge whispered while they walked away.

            Shiro grinned and they made their way over to the tables of food. “Enjoying yourselves?” Shiro asked.

            “Yes, we are.”

            Hunk handed Shiro a glass of sparkling green liquid. “Try it.”

            “Is it good?” he asked, looking at it with distrust.

            “Weird, but yeah,” Lance said.

            The sounds of instruments tuning made everyone turn. Couples began to head to the large open area. Music began to play, hauntingly upbeat. Keith sipped on the strange juice a little, watching others dance. Lance shifted next to him.  “Will you dance with me?”

            “Dance? With you?” Keith asked. “I don’t know how.”

            “It’s not hard, c’mon.”

            Lance took his hand and dragged him onto the dance floor. Other couples were dancing, the music lilting and a little off, at least to their human ears. Lance settled one hand on Keith’s waist, their other hands clasping together. “Where-where does my hand go?” Keith asked.

            “Right here,” Lance said pulling his hand to his shoulder. “There we go.”

            Butterflies erupted in Keith’s chest, dancing around painfully. Whirling around, Lance steered Keith in circles. “See, not so hard,” Lance said.

            Pink stained Keith’s cheeks and he smiled. Lance pulled Keith a little closer and he could feel the cold through his tunic from the hand that rested on his waist. Everyone began to fade away, just the two of them whirling around together.

            Clapping broke into their ears, and both paladins realized they were the only ones still dancing. They stopped, Lance’s hand dropping from his waist. A few of the aliens nearby them smiled knowingly at the two. Lance didn’t let go of Keith’s hand. Music struck up again. “Want to dance with me again?”

            Keith grinned and nodded. Off they went.

            The ball went on for hours, but the crowds seemed to be thinning. Lance had dominated Keith’s time on the dance floor, but danced with Hunk and Pidge. They were taking a break when Keith spotted a familiar pair on the dance floor. He nudged Lance and then Hunk. “Is that, Allura and Shiro?”

            “Looks like it, good for them,” Hunk said. “I’m too tired, my feet hurt.”

            “I almost would rather be training,” Pidge drawled.

            “Take that back,” Lance retorted.

            Pidge laughed and playfully shoved their shoulder against Lance. “Never.”

            When the song ended, the ball was pretty much over. It was mutual to head back to the shuttle.

            Queen Yihiai met them before their group left. “Thank you again for coming. I’m glad we formed an alliance,” she said.

            “It was our pleasure,” Allura replied. “Excuse us, we’re going back to our ship. I hope we meet again.”

            “At least let me send an escort back to your shuttle.”

            Allura pasted a smile on her face and nodded. “Thank you.”

            The streets of the city were much quieter now, and three small moons shone in the sky.

            Everyone was tired from the ball and the trip back to the castle was quiet. “I’m glad that’s over,” Pidge said.

            “Clearly you are **not** a party person,” Lance piped up.

            Keith was draped across his lap, Lance’s arms around his waist. “Not the hoity toity fancy kind.”

            “I’m just glad we didn’t insult anyone,” Hunk said.

            Keith closed his eyes for a moment, just relaxing. “Did you have fun dancing with Allura Shiro?” Pidge said.

            “You saw?” Shiro asked.

            “We all saw,” Lance said.

            “I asked him,” Allura said her voice curt. “I can dance with a friend.”

            The paladins exchanged looks. “What?”

            “I’m too tired to argue,” Pidge complained.

            The castle loomed up ahead of them. “Bed, all I can think of is bed,” Lance said.

            “You did spend like half the night dancing with Keith,” Hunk said.

            “I’m here too,” Keith murmured cracking his eyes open. “I asked him to dance a few times too.”

            Shiro landed the shuttle and everyone got out, slower than normal. “Remember training tomorrow,” Allura said. “I expect everyone to be on time.”

            The paladins let out a group groan. “Really?”

            “Just because you spend your energy at a ball doesn’t mean you can slack on your training.”

            “My room or yours,” Lance asked.

            “Mine, remember the bed,” Keith said.

            “Bed? What did you do?” Hunk asked eyes widening in horror. “Wait, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”

            He stuffed fingers in his ears and hurried off to his quarters. “Right, we should ask Coran to fix that.”

            “Tomorrow.”

            The two of them walked to Keith’s quarters hand in hand. “Hurry up mullet head,” Lance said tugging him along.

            “Don’t call me mullet head, idiot.”

            Lance grinned and leaned over to kiss Keith’s cheek. “You like it.”

            When they reached the door, Keith pressed the button and the door swished open. “I liked dancing with you,” Keith said.

            Lance slid his arms around Keith’s waist. “Want to dance more?”

            “We don’t have any music.”

            Shifting side to side, Lance smiled. “We don’t need any.”

            “One more dance, then bed. We have training tomorrow,” Keith replied sliding his arms around his neck.

            Lance leaned his head on Keith’s shoulder as they shuffled around the room. “Did I tell you I like you,” Lance said.

            “Mmm,” Keith said. “Yeah, I like you too.”

            Keith stumbled a little and yawned. “Bed time.”

            It took some time to get out of their nice clothes, and there was a little blushing and stammering and Lance had to borrow some of Keith’s pj’s. Pulling each other close, they drifted off to sleep wrapped up together.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty I know this might burst everyone's bubble, but this is the end. I had fun writing this fic and I am still very surprised at the wonderful responses I got to this thing. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who commented, left kudos, and even just read my fic. It made me so happy as a fanfic writer to see people enjoying what I wrote.

            The next morning everyone was sore. Training went badly, so horribly that Allura called it off after thirty minutes. “This is ridiculous!” Allura snapped. “You should be fit to train!”

            Lance panted and wiped sweat from his forehead. The gladiator had shoved him on his butt half a dozen times already. Keith stood next to him sword bayard out, but even he was panting a little. Hunk had completely given up, laying on the floor waving an imaginary white flag in defeat.

            Shiro was the only one who didn’t seem to be effected. Pidge was trying, but even they were tiring. “I give up, go do whatever you want. We’ll train twice as much tomorrow,” she said vitriol in her voice and stomped off the training deck.

            Everyone-except for Shiro-groaned. Lance draped his torso over Keith’s back. “For once I am not cold, not at all. I think I know how it feels to be you.”

            Keith pulled him around to his front a grin curling up on his lips. “I highly doubt that.”  

            “You take that back mullet!”

            “Don’t call me mullet, string bean!”

            “You have a mullet, it’s a fact. Get used to it!”

            “Do not! This is how my hair looks!” Keith retorted. “You are unbelievable!”

            “Well that didn’t change,” Pidge drawled watching the two bicker.

            Hunk peeled himself off the floor and stretched. “Yeah. Hey you two I want to make ice-cream, could you help me out Lance?”

            Lance broke off his sentence and grinned. “Yeah!”

            “I want to watch, for science of course,” Pidge said pushing their glasses up their nose. “You don’t use your ice powers much Lance.”

            “Want to come too Shiro?” Hunk asked.

            Shiro was distracted, watching the door that Allura left, fiddling with his arm. “Earth to Shiro, or should it be space?” Lance asked.

            “Oh, yeah. No, I have some stuff to do,” he said, walking off the training deck.

            Pidge shrugged. “Let’s go!”

            They headed to the mess hall. “I can’t believe you can make ice-cream,” Pidge piped up as they walked.

            “Hunk asked me one day, and I gave it a whirl,” Lance shrugged.

            “You did threaten to make ice-cream the first time we had to cuddle,” Keith drawled.

            Lance shoved his shoulder, glaring at him. “So!”

            Hunk began to mix up the ice-cream mixture while the rest of the group waited. “It’s not exactly ice-cream, cause I have no idea what this exactly is, but it looks and tastes like milk, so yeah.”

            Keith made a face, looking a little dubious at it. “If you say so.”

            It turned out better than Keith thought, though the texture was off just a little. Lance showed off by making it snow in the kitchen, white flakes settling on everyone’s shoulders. “Make more!” Hunk yelled.

            Soon there were thick drifts of snow in the kitchen. It was cold and everyone could see their breath. “Snow ball fight!” Lance yelled lobbing one at Keith.

            It hit him in the chest, wet and cold. Sizzling, the snow melted, leaving a wet spot on his shirt. “Hey!”

            Everyone raced to make snowballs, throwing them at each other. “What is going!” Allura yelled, then a snowball hit her smack in the face.

            Pidge gasped, horror on their face. “Ooops.”

            “So, you have energy to throw half frozen water, but not train,” Allura said, her lips curling downwards disapprovingly.

            “Lance started it,” Keith said pointing at Lance, who promptly stuck his tongue out at him.

            “What are you twelve Lance?” Pidge quipped.

            “Says you!”

            Pidge threw a snowball at him, hitting him square in the face. “Paladins, paladins, I want this mess cleaned up pronto!” Allura said hands on her hips. “But only after you’ve had your fun.”

            After she left Pidge grinned. “She only pretends to be all high and mighty, but I bet she would’ve joined in.”

            “We should probably clean this up,” Hunk said shifting his stance. “We should eat more ice cream first. Can’t let it melt.”

            “Keith my buddy, my man, would you?” Lance said grinning.

            “Are you sure I can do this, I mean-uh,” Keith stammered. “What if-what if I set someone on fire.”

            “I’m here, go for it.”

            Keith took a deep breath. _‘Focus, only the snow, patience yields focus.’_

            Flames spread down his arms the snow melting and turning into vapor. Soon the kitchen was very foggy, which Hunk fixed by turning on the vent hoods. Keith still worried he wouldn’t be able to turn off the fire and he tried, his hands shaking. Lance simply slung his arms around him from behind instantly cooling him off. “See you did great.”

            Lance leaned around and pressed his lips against Keith’s cheek, immediately making him blush. “No PDA in front of me,” Pidge grumped.

            “He’s my boyfriend, I can kiss his cheek if I want to,” Lance said squeezing Keith’s waist.

            “Not in front of me, I know where you sleep Lance,” Pidge said.

            The com crackled. “Paladins since everyone is so lively now, I want everyone to report to the training deck to work on your formations,” Allura said.

            Everyone groaned and went to put on their paladin armor. “At least we got ice cream,” Keith said smiling.

            “Race you!” Lance called.

            Keith hurried after him.

+++

 

            It had been a long and tiring training session, including a three-hour long patrol of space in their lions. Lance didn’t feel remotely cold the entire time, normally he would feel something. A bit of coolness in his fingers, or crystals in his hair. He promised to meet Keith in his room after they showered and undressed for some rest. It also involved a kiss on the cheek which made Lance freeze.

            Keith just laughed and ran off to his room. “Earth to Lance, holy cheese I think that boy broke my best friend,” Hunk said chuckling.

            Lance grinned, and shook his head. “It just surprised me.”

            Keith was already showered and in pj’s, all stretched out when Lance came in. “Move over mullet head,” Lance said.

            “Mmm, I don’t have a mullet, bean pole”

            “You say that every time and I am super strong, not a bean pole.”

            “I bet I could lift you easy over my head.”

            Keith smiled, one that made his eyes sparkle and Lance’s heart lurch. He draped his arm around Keith, closing his eyes. “Mmm we’ll see about that,” Lance murmured.

 

_The alarms blared loud and glaring. Everyone scrambled to their lions, Allura’s voice calling desperately over the com. A Galra ship had found the castle, and drone ships were flooding space. Lance watched Keith get into Red, worry sitting hard in his chest. “Be careful!” he called._

_Keith grinned. “I will.”_

_Lance climbed into Blue and the bay doors opened allowing the lions to fly out into space. It was hard maneuvering Blue, there were so many blasts. A few hit his lion, but he froze them, explosions lighting up bright and glaring. “We need to form Voltron!” Shiro yelled._

_Lance flew Blue towards Shiro, ready, but Keith wasn’t there. He saw Red surrounded, shooting and maneuvering. “Keith!” Lance screamed flying Blue over._

_“Lance, Lance...”_

            His eyes shot wide open and he shot up sweat making his shirt stick to his back. Gasping for breath he tried to control his heart and stop it from racing. “Lance?” Keith’s voice called from next to him. “Did you have a nightmare?”

            Lance turned and wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck, burying his face in his shoulder. “I don’t want to lose you,” he whispered, shoulders shaking.

            Keith smiled, just a little and slid his arms around Lance. “You won’t lose me.”

            Lance’s heart slowed and he calmed a little, still clutching at Keith’s shirt. “I dreamed we were fighting the Galra and I saw you being surrounded and I nearly lost it. I can’t lose you.”

“I told you, you won’t lose me. We have to stay together anyways, to keep our powers under control.”

            A soft sigh left Lance’s lips. “I don’t need to be close to you to control my powers anymore. I-I found that out when we last took the lions out for patrol.”

            Keith’s chest clenched painfully. He didn’t need Keith, he didn’t need him. His arms went slack and he scrambled off the bed almost stumbling when he got to his feet.  “Keith?”

            Turning on his heel, he ran, pausing to open the door and out he went. The only place he felt completely safe and secure was in Red. She purred when he ran up to her, opening her mouth. Keith settled into his seat, curling his knees up to his chest. _‘Lance doesn’t need me anymore. I still have to deal with this power, but on my own.’_       

            Red shifted her stance, feeling his insecurities. “It’s ok, I’m sorry.”

            The com crackled and a figure popped up on the right. “Keith, are you-”

            Keith cut the communication off before Lance could finish talking. He didn’t want to talk to him, just sit in his misery. Again, the com popped up, instead it someone different. “Keith, Lance said you wouldn’t talk to him, what’s wrong?” Shiro said.

            Keith sighed and let his legs stretch out in front of him. “Lance doesn’t need me anymore. He can control his powers without me.”

            “You can’t, you still need him,” Shiro said.

            Keith sniffled, his eyes burning. “Will you let him talk to you. Come out of Red.”

            He sighed and got to his feet. Red opened her mouth and he walked out. Lance was waiting outside of Red pacing back and forth. When he saw Keith, he ran over and wrapped him in a hug. “I don’t care that I can control my powers Keith!” Lance said tears filling his eyes. “I didn’t mean to make you upset. I-I oh quiznak, I love you.”

            Keith froze, his heart skipping very roughly in his chest. “Love-love me?”

            “Yeah mullet head, I said love. I don’t care if we have to stay together forever for you to get your powers under control and I want to stay with you even when you do gain control.”

            “Oh,” Keith replied in a very small voice. “That sounded like a proposal.”

            “It’s not like we’re on earth, space is a free for all.”

            Keith smiled. “Okay and I-I love you too.”

            Both boys were blushing hard, their faces red. “Alright you two, back to bed. Training tomorrow,” Shiro said behind them.

            “Right, sorry.”

            _‘He loves me,’_ each one of them thought simultaneously, their hands tangled together, as they headed back to Keith-no their room.

           

End


End file.
